Our One Chance
by Jules Waller
Summary: A Johnlock/parentlock. When given the opportunity to have a child, John convinces Sherlock to give it a go. Not a very good summary, but anything more would be spoilers:) Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson had been together as a couple for about six months when the call from Mycroft came. He was heading a project to create a fully-functioning, growing child without the use of a womb or sexual intercourse. They needed Sherlock to be the biological father.

"We do not know if the brain functions of the child will be up to par, and we are not willing to create a human if it cannot function. We figure that if its parent has an above-average mind such as your own, it may compensate for other possible defects-"

Sherlock did not let his brother finish his explanation before yelling no and slamming the phone down.

"Mycroft, I'm guessing?" John sat with his laptop on the couch, blogging.

"Yes, he called to ask for my DNA. Some sort of cloning thing. They don't want to breed an idiot."

"Breed? Sure sounds interesting. Did he tell you much?"

"Living, growing baby who can function like a human being without a mother. That's as far as I let him get," Sherlock said with a bored sigh. "I'm not interested, as even you have probably deduced."

John looked up at Sherlock, and hesitated a moment before saying, "You should think about it."

"HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!" Sherlock's volume nearly blew John backwards. "Cooperate with Mycroft? Participate in one of his silly little experiments?"

"It doesn't exactly sound like a silly little experiment to me," John sighed, and then murmured quietly, "and it may be our only chance to have a kid."

This comment softened Sherlock's voice a little. "I never thought having your own child mattered to you. You seemed perfectly happy with the idea of adopting in a couple of years."

"I never said anything because I never thought it was possible. When I fell in love with you I accepted that that dream of mine wasn't ever going to be realized."


	2. Chapter 2

The look on John's face wore Sherlock down and he reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed his brother's number. John's face lit up with hope.

"I presume you are reconsidering?" Mycroft questioned, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"The way you are running this experiment, is it possible for the child to have two parents?"

"Why, it is required. We're not cloning. That is the reason we needed you. I already donated my half of the DNA."

"For God's sake, I don't want to father a child with an addiction to cake. It would be a nightmare. Your DNA will not be used or I will most definitely not participate."

Ignoring the cake insult, Mycroft replied, "Who ever said anything about you fathering the child? In your hands, it would be dead within a month."

"You seem to be forgetting that I live with John, who is perfectly capable of being a father. Which brings me to my set of demands."

"Oh, dear brother. What is it now?"

"John will supply the other set of DNA, and yours will be completely out of the picture."

"It will take some convincing, but I can probably make that happen."

"And my other demand is this." Sherlock grew more serious and said in the most demanding tone he could muster, "Once the kid is born or grown or whatever your scientist people are calling it, it comes home with us. We keep the child as our own, and you can monitor its progress on our terms."

The other end of the line went silent for a moment. Then Mycroft replied quietly, "That will be a bit harder."

"Oh come on, you had to have deduced that I would ask of that. I made it rather obvious." Sherlock was obviously enjoying getting the best of his brother for once.

"Of course I did, dear brother, I am not an idiot. I was just hoping for once in my life that I had deduced wrong."

"You're desperate, I can hear it in your voice. You're not very good at hiding it."

"As I hate admitting, you are correct on that front. I will try to make it happen. I will get back to you as soon as possible."

Sherlock nodded and hung up the phone with a smile. He turned around to a beaming John Watson, who had risen from the couch and was now in the process of tackling Sherlock in a bear hug. Sherlock, taken by surprise, fell to the ground, and they shared a beautiful and happy kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

The next week at 221B Baker Street was filled with angst and tension. Mycroft did not appear to be in a huge hurry in getting back in touch with the boys, who kept the phone near them every hour of the day. Even Sherlock was overjoyed at the thought of having a child of his own, though he explained off his excitement by saying that he was just fascinated with the science involved.

Mycroft never called. He showed up at the door one morning uninvited, and John and Sherlock were still in their pajamas, snuggling on the couch. Mrs. Hudson answered the door and stalled enough for the boys to change into something a little more respectable.

Once dressed and settled in, they sat down at the table with Mycroft, who had brought a stack of forms and papers the width of a short novel. Sherlock searched his face for clues, but found nothing. Mycroft had gotten very good at hiding his emotion.

Finally, after what felt like hours, he said, "My team has agreed to your terms and will be over some time this week to take DNA samples and tell you a little more about the project."

Sherlock grinned in spite of himself. John sat in shock for a couple of seconds, his mouth wide open. "Oh. My. God." Sherlock's pat on the back snapped him out of it, and he too smiled wide at Mycroft, who still wore his usual neutral expression.

Mycroft placed the stack of papers in front of the couple. "These are forms- insurance, liability, guardian forms, so on and so forth. They need signatures from both of you before the scientists come over."

"Yes, of course, thank you. Thank you so much," John said as Mycroft collected his things. He reached his hand out to Mycroft for a handshake. Mycroft looked down at John's hand, stood up and walked out of the door. John looked over at Sherlock, somewhat insulted.

"Dear Mycroft didn't get what he wanted for once in his life. I wouldn't expect him to be in a good mood," Sherlock said with a smirk.


	4. Chapter 4

After five days of waiting, endless paperwork, and plenty of arguing over baby names, the boys' visitors finally showed up at the door of 221B.

John answered the door to meet the two figures. In front stood a broad-shouldered man holding a clipboard. Behind him, a rather attractive woman, brunette, rather thin, and sporting a pair of designer heels. Both wore white lab coats and carried black leather suitcases.

"Hello," the man said with a smile, "I am James Hemsworth. And this," gesturing to the girl, "Is my... colleague... Jenna Walters. We are here to take some samples, as I am sure Mr. Holmes has informed you. You must be Dr. John Watson?"

"Yes, nice to meet you. Please, do come in."

James and Jenna followed John to the kitchen table, free for once of all samples, body parts and machinery. John had spent several hours tidying up while Sherlock lay on the couch, complaining of boredom and insulting John's cleaning methods.

"You know, you could just help out a bit, if my way of doing it is offending you or whatever. Might curve your boredom."

"Dull, useless, not happening. Do you really think cleaning the place up is going to make any difference? Mycroft's already told us we're getting the kid, you're wasting your time."

They sat down, the scientists on one side of the table, John and Sherlock, who had been in the bedroom changing out of his pajamas at the last minute, on the other.

"Ex-spouses," Sherlock murmured in John's ear. "You can tell by the way they sit- quiet, backs straight, chairs angled slightly away from each other. Not just girlfriend and boyfriend, judging by the way he said colleague earlier at the door, I was listening."

"Not exactly relevant at the moment, Sherlock..." John muttered back just as James Hemsworth finished sorting out his papers. Walters sat silently, holding a clipboard of her own.

"Before we take samples, we'll explain a little about what we're doing. The experiment is quite advanced; we are attempting to create life without-"

"Yes, yes, we've read the forms, no need to explain," Sherlock sighed, and it earned him a nudge from John.

Jenna finally spoke up, "Yes. Of course. We're here to tell you what you don't already know." A glare at Hemsworth.

"There are still some unknown factors; we won't know exactly how it will look, act or function until the experiment is done. Because of the fact that its parents are both male, we assume that it will be a boy."

At this, Sherlock smiled. John reached over and grabbed his hand under the table. They both enjoyed the moment knowing that the baby name war would continue as soon as the scientists were gone.

"Though you have already been informed, it is worth noting that we are still not confident that his brain will be properly developed. All his other functions, however, due to the nature of the experiment, will be almost definitely without defect. Expect a healthy, happy baby."

Jenna said the next part. "The development of the child while still in our facility will be rather sped up. While a normal child would need nine to ten months to develop, this one will take about three."

John responded to the news with a shocked grin, thrilled. Sherlock, who, the moment before had been perfectly happy, suddenly looked petrified. After a moment he regained control of his expression and angrily said, "We were supposed to have nine months to prepare. Any human being with an excuse for a brain would have informed us of this ahead of time. I thought you two were supposed to be scientific geniuses."

It took all John had not to punch him in the face.

"Sorry, he's probably just in a bit of shock. I'm sure he's delighted."

"No, I'm not in-"

A kick in the shin. He reluctantly nodded and let the scientists continue.

**Author's Note: This is my longest chapter yet. Hope you all enjoy. This is my first fanfic, so if you all would leave me a review, it would make my day. Don't worry, I would love some constructive criticism. I won't be offended. :) Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

After their conversation at the table, Sherlock, John, and the two scientists rose from their seats and made their way to the living room for the next part of the visit.

Taking the DNA samples didn't take long. Cheek swabs, blood samples, a couple strands of hair... All carefully labelled and stored in the black briefcases. John commented that it felt like something out of Harry Potter; Sherlock responded with disgust, "dull, predictable, completely impossible. I don't understand why anyone would enjoy those novels."

James Hemsworth and Jenna Walters gave polite goodbyes and left with their supplies and samples.

"Pair of idiots," Sherlock grunted as soon as the door was shut behind them. "_You_ could have taken better samples in half the time. Why on Earth would Mycroft trust them with the life of our son?"

John's grin, which hadn't left his face since he was told the gender of his child, faded. "You couldn't have been a little less awful? Those two are at least assisting in, if not heading, the project to birth our BLOODY CHILD!"

"No excuse for idiocy."

...

"I don't understand why you are so against it. You should be flattered," Sherlock sighs at an exasperated John. A few days had passed, and the boys were standing around the battlefield that was the dinner table of 221B.

"Because I bloody hate it, as I have made extremely clear to you. I would think a world-renowned genius could pick up on that."

"But I like it."

"Yes, you've said that at least twenty times tonight! I understand that you like it, but I don't, and I'm not swaying."

"What do you have against the name Hamish? I want to name our son after you. I thought you enjoyed sentimentality, or whatever."

"It's not about sentimentality. I will not force him to go through the torture of having the name Hamish."

"Well, if you hate my ideas so much then come up with some of your own."

John stares at him with a look of disbelief. "Thomas, Steven, Joshua, Martin, Peter, Ben, Henry, Andrew, even Sherlock. I've thrown out all those and more and you've found reasons to reject every one of them."

"That's because I don't like them."

"UUUGGGHHHH!" John groans, loudly. "You're such a child. I should have known what I was getting into when we started going out."

Sherlock goes silent.

John looks at Sherlock and sees fear and sadness in his eyes, though he is trying to hide it. Suddenly, John is just as scared. "No, Sherlock, I swear I didn't mean it like that. You know that I love you. I hope you know that."

Sherlock smiles a little, visually relieved. With a smirk he says, "We really should name him Hamish."

"Oh. My. GOD!" And with that John storms off to bed.

It takes a couple more nights of bicker for the boys to settle on a compromise. Hudson Hamish Holmes-Watson, in honor of their beloved landlady.


	6. Chapter 6

The next month was filled with furniture shopping, toy purchasing, and room decorating. They had decided to put baby Hudson's room where John's had used to be, upstairs. John had thought this might be an issue, but they installed baby monitors, along with a collection of security cameras, so they figured it would do.

Once the name issue was resolved, Sherlock and John did a much better job on coming to quick decisions. Sherlock wrote an article on his website about why, saying it was urgency forcing them to compromise. John thought it was the excitement.

They received updates from Mycroft every week. The information was almost all the same (he's developing as expected; yes, he is as comfortable as we can make him; no, you cannot visit), but the calls were still cause of of high-running emotions in 221B. Surprisingly, Sherlock tended to get more worked up over the calls than John did.

One evening, right after one of Mycroft's calls, the two were sitting together at the kitchen table, eating takeout and ignoring the most recent acid stains. It was unusually silent; usually dinner was full of discussions on the best kind of crib or the most recent toy purchase. John asked what was wrong.

Sherlock looked him in the eyes. John could sense his fear. Normally, Sherlock never showed fear, but it had happened a lot lately. Sherlock was noticing too. "I can usually push feelings aside. Sentimentality, love, fear... I don't feel them if I don't want to. I haven't even met this kid, and... I'm feeling love for him."

"Rather poetic."

"I'm serious."

"You'd better be. Hudson's your son. It wouldn't be healthy not to love him. I sure do."

"But the chemical reaction that creates love between a parent and a child-"

"I don't care about chemical reactions! This is our son! Surely you don't see it as a bad thing."

Sherlock didn't respond.

"Oh my God." John looked utterly disappointed.

"John, I have enemies. They've used you before to get to me. They'll use him."

"Sherlock, we won't let him out of our sights. He'll be okay, but not if you don't love him. With everything. He won't need protection from bomb threats, he'll need his father."

"Exactly. You're his father."

"You know what, just forget it. You'll come around." John got up and walked out the door, leaving Sherlock to contemplate.

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Please review, I really appreciate it! Thanks to livvykitty for giving me some feedback. Per request, I have done a little editing to my previous chapters. Minor stuff, and not worth re-reading if you have already read them, but I thought I'd let you know. Thanks again for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

A few weeks later, the boys got a phone call from Mycroft saying he would be coming over to 221B for a chat about the experiment. Mycroft usually just called if there wasn't much news, so there had to be something new.

The boys were terrified.

Mycroft arrived perfectly on schedule one Wednesday morning. Sherlock, who had at least somewhat gotten over his "love nerves," and John, were sitting together on the couch.

"Hello, Sherlock. Hello, John." As usual, his expression gave away nothing.

"Hello Mycroft," said Sherlock haphazardly. Even in such a pivotal moment he couldn't bring himself to treat Mycroft with any respect. John gave him a glare.

"As you know, I have some news for you all. The baby is developed enough that we have been able to do some tests and monitor its brain, its skeleton, et cetera, et cetera."

"And?" John and Sherlock questioned simultaneously. They were gripping each other's hands tightly enough to cut off circulation. Mycroft prolonged his pause, enjoying the look of pure anticipatory terror on his brother's face. After a moment of bure torture for Sherlock and John, Mycroft got on with it.

"Everything is in perfect order. Its brain is very active, so it is sure to take after Sherlock."

Neither John nor Sherlock knew what to say. They both beamed at each other, and Mycroft felt awkwardly excluded. Finally, John broke the silence.

"Our little boy's going to be a genius!" John's smile lit up the room. He had been expecting the worst.

Mycroft's look of unease dampened John's smile a bit. He worried John even more by saying a moment later, "Well, that's the other thing I wanted to tell you all."

"What do you mean?" John's happy smile turned into a worried frown. Sherlock looked at his brother, confused for a moment. Then suddenly he nodded in understanding.

"Enough with the suspense already. What's wrong?"

Mycroft sighed. "Baby Hudson is a girl."

**Author's Note: So sorry for the wait and the rather short chapter. I wanted to end the chapter with that little plot twist. I'll try to post again soon, I've been pretty busy. Please review with suggestions/ ideas/ et cetera. Thank you so much for reading- It really means a lot to me! **


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh. Oh!" John sat there, speechless.

"It's not a bad thing, is it?" Sherlock asked John. John shook his head silently, the all-too-familiar look of shock and surprise. He'd been making that face a lot in the past month and a half.

"It's a good sign, actually," Mycroft said. "It proves that we're not just cloning a combination of your DNA, but truly birthing a child. Some... Concerned parties... Have been hard to convince-"

"We don't care about the politics, Mycroft. John, you haven't said a word. Are you sure you're okay with this?" For once it was Sherlock worrying about John's dedication.

"Looks like we have some shopping to do." John snapped out of the shock and gave Sherlock a genuine smile.

...

The boys had a bit more trouble redecorating their little girl's room than they had had the first time. As soon as Mycroft was gone, they began a disagreement over what color to make her room.

"Pink is traditional, it's girly, and it's pretty. We should just stick with pink."

"John, just because she is a girl does not mean she will like pink. Scientific studies show that female children show the same amount of pleasure to the color as males, and only tend to favor it as a result to peer pressure and the expectations of society."

"You know... Whatever that was... And you still can't find room in your mind for your own brother's birthday?"

Sherlock shrugged, indifferent. "I only store information about things that are important."

"Well, the point is, we don't know what color she will like, and we need to choose something."

"Color preferences can be hereditary. My favorite shirt is the dark purple one, and based on the dilation of your pupils every time I wear it, I'm guessing you like it, too." Sherlock's tone was not lost on John. It was that 'I know you can't help finding me sexy' voice.

"Oh my God, you git!" John tried to look serious, but a smile spread across his lips. "You know what, fine. Deep purple it is."

...


End file.
